Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a technology for displaying an image showing surroundings of a vehicle.
Description of the Background Art
Generally, a driver of a vehicle, such as a car, sees a surrounding area behind the vehicle by looking at an interior rearview mirror provided in a cabin of the vehicle. However, even if using the interior rearview mirror, there is a case where it is difficult for the driver to see the surrounding area behind the vehicle, for example, because driver's view is blocked by an occupant or luggage in a rear area of the cabin of the vehicle. Moreover, in a case of a truck having a container and the like, there is a case where the interior rearview mirror cannot be used to see the surrounding area behind the vehicle.
Therefore, an image display system has been recently proposed that captures an image of a subject in a surrounding area behind a vehicle, using a camera, and that displays an image including the image of the subject, on a display apparatus provided to a position of an interior rearview mirror in a vehicle. A driver of the vehicle, a user of the image display system, can stably see the surrounding area behind the vehicle without influence by an occupant or luggage in a rear area of a cabin of the vehicle.
However, there is a case where the driver of the vehicle uses a conventional interior rearview mirror to see not only the surrounding area behind the vehicle but also the occupant, luggage, etc. in the rear area of the cabin of the vehicle. The foregoing image display system does not display an image showing the cabin of the vehicle so that it is not possible for the user to see the rear area of the cabin of the vehicle.
Therefore, an image display system including the display apparatus having a display screen using a one-way mirror has been proposed. The image display system causes an inside of the half-silvered mirror to be dark by turning off a backlight of the display apparatus. Thus, the display screen of the display apparatus can be used as a mirror to show an image of the rear area of the cabin in the vehicle.
However, in a case where such an image display system is used, when the backlight is turned off, an entire region of the display screen corresponding to the backlight functions as a mirror on the display apparatus. Therefore, it is impossible to use only a partial region of the display screen of the display apparatus as a mirror. Thus, for example, it is difficult for the user to see both of the surrounding area behind the vehicle and the rear area of the cabin of the vehicle at the same time.